Be the Change (Perseverance 3:10): April A-Z Blog Challenge Reflections

This was my very first time participating in the A-Z Challenge, and there wasn’t very much that I didn’t like about the whole experience! I had a blast! Now, let’s be honest, in a way I seriously failed, because I didn’t post each letter each day, on time, every time. I think E-G went up on the same day. I did my best, but truth be told, I have so many priorities that come before my blog and there were days where I just said “heck with it, I’ll post tomorrow, I’m gonna hang out with my love before bed”.

No matter the method, I was very happy with the end result and I can’t help but be proud of myself. I finished! I posted all 26 letters of the alphabet, I learned a lot about myself, my blog and changes that I want to make in the future. I also read a lot of interesting blogs, met new people, joined new groups and discovered that there are so many different types of blogs and blog content and reasons that people even have blogs.

I think my favorite part was the themes. There were so many interesting themes out there! Here are some of the blogs that I checked in on, on a regular basis: S. L. Hennessy, The Mommy Rant, The Character Depot, The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment and The Insecure Writer's Support Group.

I also liked that there are co-hosts and minions that reached out, because it made me feel more included in the challenge, like I was part of a group. When a co-host or one of their minions would stop by and say “hey, I like your posts, you’re doing a great job!” it may not have seemed like much, but it really did help out.

I never thought about quitting. I never said “this is too hard, why am I doing this?! I’m insane!” Sometimes I would get to the end of the day and realize that in all the mayhem that is my daily life, I had forgotten to do anything with my blog! I didn’t post or check comments or read any other blogs. And I would feel a little frustrated and overwhelmed, cause like I said, there’s a lot going on around here. But then I would get my posts up and I would read something interesting or funny and falling a little bit behind didn’t seem like such a big deal anymore.

I wouldn’t change a thing about the challenge, I think it’s wonderful just the way it is! I had so much fun that I started looking for other blogging challenges that were creative and fun. And I found nothing that even comes close to the April A-Z Blogging Challenge. Heck, I even got my sons involved! They guest posted in Letter X, for Xtreme Riding, my youngest son’s letter theme idea. Maybe some day they’ll be blogging in the challenge alongside their mama!

Thanks so much to everyone at the

A-Z Challenge! I had a blast, I hope everyone else had fun and maybe learned something interesting about our little California mountain community during my Kern River Valley themed month. I sure did learn a lot! And grew to love this place even more than before and I learned that there are more possibilities for adventure around us than I realized.

My A-Z Blog theme was The Kern River Valley:

A is for All That Fresh Air

B is for Backyard Farming

C is for Camping at Isabella Lake

D is for Driving the Canyon

E is for Expensive Shopping and How I Avoid it

F is for Far and Away; Moving to the Mountains

G is for Gleaning the Fields

H is for Homeschooling in the Mountains

I is for Isabella Fishing Derby

J is for Junior Fishing Derby

K is for Kern River